Childhood has moved indoors. What a shame. Children are meant to be running free in open spaces, climbing trees, finding frogs and turtles, biking to the playground, and being hard to find at dinnertime. Today’s child is most likely to be found sitting in front of a screen – TV, video games, computers. 8-10 year olds reportedly spend an average of 6 hours a day staring at a screen. Given an additional 6 hours spent in school plus eating, sleeping, homework and we have taken our children’s worlds and turned them into tiny, structured spaces with little physical activity and almost no free play time. Organized sports have become the play of many children but actually only about a quarter of all children are playing an organized sport during any season of the year. So the vast majority are just sitting around, growing obese at an alarming rate and missing out on important socializing.
Tags: 10 year olds, alarming rate, american adults, bicycles, blended families, bowling leagues, child, colleague, commitments, community participation, dinnertime, free play, frogs, games computers, households, open spaces, organized sports, physical activity, play time, robert putnam